How can I get my shower to drain water?

January 4, 2007 9:45 PM

Because the bottom of my fiberglass shower is totally flat, the water doesn't drain down and so mildew builds up at triple the frequency. Short of replacing the shower, how can I create the effect of a downsloping shower floor?
posted by deern the headlice to home & garden (10 comments total)

My last place had bathroom mould of Lovecraftian proportions. I believe I've tried every mould-removing product on the Australian market.

It's a structural problem so it's going to be a bitch to fix. Short of inventing artificial gravity and employing a voodoo witchdoctor to place a curse on whoever installed the shower without checking levels, I can only suggest that you either a) squeegee or dry the shower after each use and/or b) coat the shower in something that causes the water to shed more efficiently. There's a product called "Rain-X" which is meant for car windows (it's brilliant!) but there may be something more for domestic use. However, this will probably need to be reapplied every time you clean the shower and won't solve pooling.

If mildew is your main problem try to improve ventillation as best you can. Even if you can't install a ceiling fan, can you at least mount a fan/heater/blower on the wall somewhere?

Good luck!
posted by ninazer0 at 10:47 PM on January 4, 2007

Is this in a house you own, or a rental where DIY might be frowned upon?
posted by tomble at 10:48 PM on January 4, 2007

(It's a house I own)
posted by deern the headlice at 10:55 PM on January 4, 2007

Mix two part epoxy and sand and build up a slope, cheaper method autobody filler (bondo) painted with indusrtial enamel.
posted by hortense at 11:05 PM on January 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

I second using a squeegee or a full post-shower wipe-down. It's what we use and it seems to work best.
posted by Brittanie at 11:16 PM on January 4, 2007

If you've currently got an exhaust fan right over the shower recess, you could try replacing it with one of those combined fan/heater/light assemblies, and using that with a timer switch so it blasts the shower base with infrared goodness for ten minutes after you leave the room.

Or maybe you could extend the shower recess walls all the way up to the ceiling, so that when the exhaust fan sucks, it causes a horizontal curtain of air to blow in under the shower recess door and sweep the water drainward.
posted by flabdablet at 4:52 AM on January 5, 2007

I third the squeegee
posted by cahlers at 7:03 AM on January 5, 2007

flabdablet is right , a fan/heater/light is what you need. take it from someone who once lived in florida.
posted by nola at 9:34 AM on January 5, 2007

Fourth vote for the squeegee, it's what we use in our household.
posted by arcticseal at 10:55 AM on January 5, 2007

Pre-made, drop-in showers are designed to slope toward the drain. Yours was installed improperly, probably with the weight resting almost completely on the drain connection.

It may be possible to wedge up the floor from underneath around the outside and push in cement, but it was probably installed the way it was because there wasn't enough space above. It's a bitch of a job to remove the door and surrounds, pull out the shower and remake the supports.

It may be posible to lay a properly angled coat of cement on the existing shower floor and then put a new surface on top of it.

If the solutions above don't work, the best solution would be an entire new shower, this time installed by people who do the best quality work.
posted by KRS at 1:07 PM on January 5, 2007